Battlefielding.....Enfield related!?!

[Roger Payne]

Got back from another trip over to the Somme last Thursday. I was just reviewing some of the photo's that I've taken, not only last week, but on trips over earlier in the year. There's an assortment of both small & larger finds, & some quite touching pictures taken in several of the CWGC cemeteries..........I go to pay my respects on a regular basis, making it a point to sign the cemetery registers at Dantzig Alley (where I say hello to Captain Charlie May, whose letters home to his wife still move me to tears even after many readings), & 47th (2nd London) Div cemetery at High Wood. My grandfather survived two attacks on High Wood, only to succumb on 1st November, his Battalion having been given the task to attack over a rise the heavily defended German trenches, Hazy & Boritzka, near Les Boeufs. They were up to their knees in mud & were, by all accounts, cut down by the MG08's as they crested the rise. They never identified his body; he's one of the over 72,000 mentioned on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

Hope some of you might find the snaps of a little interest. The place is like a magnet to me.....

Addendum: It might mean more if I briefly annotate the pics.:

1. 303 bullet found in a field next to High Wood. It was the site of Seton-Hutchison's million round machine gun barrage to facilitate one of the numerous attacks to capture the wood. (In fact the ten Vickers guns fired one belt less than a million!)
2. Capt Charlie May's grave, Dantzig Alley CWGC cemetery.
3. Silent Picket found in a field near Ginchy, not far from Delville Wood.
4. Dantzig Alley CWGC Sunset July '24.
5. Reconstructed 36th (Ulster) Division trenches, Thiepval Wood.
6. Mill Road CWGC cemetery Thiepval, evening, late July '24. Many of the grave stones are laid flat due to subsidence caused by the numerous German dug outs lying below ground.
7. Poppies in No Man's Land, Thiepval, Summer '24.
8. Two head stones; three young officers. 47th (2nd London) Division, High Wood.
9. Thiepval Franco-British Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. The panels contain the names of over 72,000 men of the British & SA armies who have no known grave.
10, 11, 12. The remains of a Gew 98 I Mauser I pulled out of a field on the outskirts of Pozieres ten days ago. I wasn't even actively field walking - just driving past with my eyes open. The last pic shows how the rifle looked as I drove slowly by - with just about 15 inches of the barrel sticking out of the ground.
13. Site of Pozieres Windmill. The gentle undulations in the ground are all that was left of the windmill by the end of the fighting.
14. A common sight in the fields - a No5 grenade or Mills bomb.

[CINDERS]

Such a travesty and senseless loss of life with that campaign who would have thought a driver taking the wrong turn and a single gunshot would lead to the carnage that was WWI.
Where 19th century tactics met 20th century weapons.

I have included a few good reads from my shelves and give a quick run down on them;
Pic #1 ~ Somme Phase 1 the opening moves of the campaign it's a 2 part set the 2 vols are not common.
#2 ~ Hot Blood & Cold Steel general descriptions by those that were there facing relentless barrages and staying alive pretty good read.
#3 ~ All of Lyn MacDonald's books she has written, are great reads "Somme" took her 10 years to compile I highly recommend her books.
#4 ~ The Price Of Glory the battle for Verdun the decimation of the French bleed France white by Germany carnage on another level recommended.

Sorry Roger thought I would put some of my reads out there, just a few of what I have on WWI that I thought forum members may want to source whether book or Kindle.

[RobD]

Roger,
I know how you feel about the Somme, I'm the same way with the Spioenkop battlefields...
re: The Somme, my GF was there as signals officer, he was twice wounded but survived.
Here's a stock disc found at High Wood - 17th London on one side, 3rd Welsh Fusiliers the other side.

[Roger Payne]

Glad to see your tastes in reading are the same as mine Ron!

Yes, Rob, it's something hard to explain, but very real. The fact that my grandfather is out there somewhere, either in an unknown grave or still lying in a field (like so many others) adds to the poignance. And on top of all that, the countryside is so peaceful now, quite beautiful in places, in fact.

I've just added brief annotations to the photo's in the original posting - it might mean a little more to people, & the place names may ring bells to some!

[browningautorifle]

Riveting pics, thanks Roger...

[Surpmil]

Some people find High Wood and Mametz Wood rather "disquieting" I've read. IIRC at least one of them was never cleared after the war. Something like 20,000 dead unrecovered in High Wood?

As for that one driver and one man with a pistol Cinders, that was just the desired spark. German reservists were being called back from North and probably South America earlier in 1914. "Der Tag" was a long-term plan.

Well documented from original sources here: Germany’s Aims In The First World War : Fritz Fischer : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

(Can be downloaded for later reading in a number of formats on that page)

[CINDERS]

Just a quick thought on one of Lyn's books called The Roses Of No Mans Land is about a seldom written about part of the war I feel and that was the nursing sisters practically at the front line aid posts (Evac stations)well not very far behind it anyway.
Some were actually killed in their roles so I am not sure if they became a statistic or were counted as a non combatant, some were killed in the hospitals as well being bombed.

I have another couple of reads on a similar vein ~ Its A Long Way To Tipperary, British and Irish Nurses in the Great War By Yvonne McEwen and Letters Of An Australian Army Sister By Anne Donnell (1st Ed H/C a rare book) she ended up in Egypt & then Lemnos IIRCC.

[Alan de Enfield]

As for that one driver and one man with a pistol Cinders, that was just the desired spark. German reservists were being called back from North and probably South America earlier in 1914. "Der Tag" was a long-term plan.

Germany, Austria and Italy are standing together in the middle of a pub when Serbia bumps into Austria and spills Austria’s pint. Austria demands Serbia buy it a complete new suit because there are splashes on its trouser leg. Germany expresses its support for Austria’s point of view. Britain recommends that everyone calm down a bit.

Serbia points out that it can’t afford a whole suit, but offers to pay for the cleaning of Austria’s trousers. Russia and Serbia look at Austria. Austria asks Serbia who it’s looking at.

Russia suggests that Austria should leave its little brother alone.

Austria inquires as to whose army will assist Russia in compelling it to do so. Germany appeals to Britain that France has been looking at it, and that this is sufficiently out of order that Britain should not intervene. Britain replies that France can look at who it wants to, that Britain is looking at Germany too, and what is Germany going to do about it? Germany tells Russia to stop looking at Austria, or Germany will render Russia incapable of such action.
Britain and France ask Germany whether it’s looking at Belgium. Turkey and Germany go off into a corner and whisper. When they come back, Turkey makes a show of not looking at anyone. Germany rolls up its sleeves, looks at France, and punches Belgium.


France and Britain punch Germany.
Austria punches Russia.
Germany punches Britain and France with one hand and Russia with the other.
Russia throws a punch at Germany, but misses and nearly falls over. Japan calls over from the other side of the room that it’s on Britain’s side, but stays there.
Italy surprises everyone by punching Austria.
Australia punches Turkey, and gets punched back. There are no hard feelings because Britain made Australia do it.

France gets thrown through a plate glass window, but gets back up and carries on fighting.

Russia gets thrown through another one, gets knocked out, suffers brain damage, and wakes up with a complete personality change.

Italy throws a punch at Austria and misses, but Austria falls over anyway. Italy raises both fists in the air and runs round the room chanting.

America waits till Germany is about to fall over from sustained punching from Britain and France, then walks over and smashes it with a barstool, then pretends it won the fight all by itself.

By now all the chairs are broken and the big mirror over the bar is shattered. Britain, France and America agree that Germany threw the first punch, so the whole thing is Germany’s fault. While Germany is still unconscious, they go through its pockets, steal its wallet, and buy drinks for all their friends.

[Surpmil]

An amusing story, except of course that it was France and Britain that were at the point of falling over in 1917 and early 1918 having smashed their heads bloody on the furniture while attempting to head-butt Germany.

As for the rifling of Germany and Austria's pockets, this will be the icing on Dr. Fischer's cake: WORLD IN TRANCE. : Leopold Schwarzschild : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Basically Germany received more in American credits and defaulted loans than she ever paid in largely forgiven reparations.

A long read, but history generally is: World War I reparations - Wikipedia

[Sapper740]

And people wonder why Americans want to stay out of European wars.